The growth of the Internet has created sizable opportunities for online retailers. Most major retailers of consumer products have established commercial sites on the World Wide Web. At the same time, the availability of website presence has eliminated many of the marketing barriers previously experienced by smaller retailers. Virtually any retailer can now post product information for easy access by potential customers, and take orders for products in an automated fashion.
The product information may include a large number of images. The images enable web customers situated at client devices to view products before submitting an online purchase order. For some items, the user is permitted to click on a “thumbnail” image to view the item in a higher resolution format. For many retailers, however, the quality of the images can be a significant concern. Color accuracy, in particular, can be very important for retailers of products for which color matters.
In the case of clothing retailers, for example, an image of a sweater should match its actual color as closely as possible. Unfortunately, the color output characteristics of different display devices can differ significantly. A cathode ray tube (CRT) or flat panel display, video card, driver software, and operating system together determine how RGB pixel values will be rendered and displayed, and vary significantly from system to system.
Consequently, an online customer may order what appears to be a burgundy sweater but instead receive a bright red sweater. Indeed, color inaccuracy has become a significant cause for return of merchandise purchased by online customers. In some cases, this problem can erase the advantages obtained by the retailer's commitment to online merchandising, and undermine continued investment.